Hearst, one of the largest privately held corporations in New York City, wrapped up a very busy season on the merger front in 2014 with an estimated $2.6 billion in acquisitions, according to knowledgeable sources.

The results — of both the pick-ups and its 2014 business — in typical Hearst fashion are not flashy, but they are solid.

Former CEO Frank Bennack, now the executive vice chairman, officially stepped down in mid- 2013 but is still seen as a quiet behind-the-scenes operative.

He turned over day-to-day control to his protegé, current CEO Steve Swartz, who had been groomed for several years as the company COO.

Wrapping up his first full year, Swartz has proven to be every bit as adept as his mentor, as revenues advanced 6.1 percent, to $10.3 billion, for the year, sources said.

The revenue and profits were at record levels “for a fourth straight year,” according to a year-end memo Swartz distributed to employees on Monday.

Rivals in the magazine world, Time Inc. and Condé Nast, each wrestling with industrywide declines in print ads, do not come close to matching Hearst’s growth.

But Hearst has been deftly repositioned over time — never betting the farm but often taking small stakes in growing companies.

Over the past five years, Hearst has been averaging about $2 billion a year in acquisitions — and most remarkably, “they have no debt,” one industry executive noted. “They manage the company for cash.”

Today, the company’s cable networks, fueled by its 20 percent stake in ESPN (Walt Disney owns the rest) and its 50 percent stake in A&E (again, Disney owns the rest) are the No. 1 profit maker among its five business groups.

On the digital front, Hearst contributed $125 million of the $250 million stake that A&E pumped into Shane Smith’s Vice Media last year, giving it a 10 percent stake in the digital darling.

It also made a bet on what it hopes will be another fast-growth area — paying an undisclosed amount for a 25 percent stake in AwesomenessTV, a YouTube network that is majority-owned by DreamWorks Animation.

Business Media, a third unit, once the outpost of sleepy trade magazines, has been transformed into Hearst’s No. 2 profit maker even though its revenues are believed to be not much more than $1 billion.

Not surprisingly, Business Media is the subject of the company’s biggest deal last year — the $1.9 billion it agreed to pay to acquire a majority stake in Fitch Group, the global ratings agency.

The deal — announced in late 2014 but not yet finalized — will increase the Hearst stake from 50 percent to 80 percent. The deal, with Fitch’s French parent, is expected to close in the first quarter.

Business Media is Hearst’s “fastest growing division,” Swartz said in the memo.

The CEO called the division — headed by Rich Malloch and Hearst Health President Dr. Greg Dorn, “a hallmark of Hearst’s approach to business over the years, investing aggressively for faster growth in areas adjacent to an already successful business where over time we prove our expertise.”

Along those lines, the company acquired CareInSync, a software communications platform to be used by health-care providers.

Forty years ago, fueled by the rise of Cosmopolitan and the staying power of Good Housekeeping, Hearst Magazines was the dominant money earner for the entire corporation, even eclipsing the once-mighty newspaper wing.

Today, even after its 2013 takeover of Elle and most of France-based Lagardère’s titles for $919 million, Hearst’s Magazine Division is only the fourth largest profit center.

David Carey, the president of the Hearst Magazine Division, in a separate memo to his employees, implied the company would skip start-ups in 2015 but that it is actively looking for a joint-venture partner for a 2016 launch.

It remains one of the few big publishers in the startup game, but usually shares costs.
Newspapers, once the foundation of the company, now occupy the No. 5 slot among all divisions in terms of profit.

Rodale HQ

Rodale is hoping to sell its now- empty former headquarters in Emmaus, Pa., but it looks like it has to engage in some serious price-cutting.

The company, headed by Maria Rodale, had it listed on the open market for $3.5 million last summer.

But according to the Express -Times, which covers Lehigh Valley, Emmaus municipal officials are contemplating buying the building and converting it into a new borough hall for the municipality for $2.95 million.

The purchase is up for discussion at a Jan. 15 meeting.

The building sits on five acres and includes a 1,250- square-foot stone house that was converted to offices.

A company spokeswoman said it originally served as the corporate headquarters when Rodale arrived in Emmaus in the 1940s, but in the 1980s a second building was erected.

After several rounds of downsizing, the company consolidated there about two years ago, and the former HQ has been standing empty.